The present study aims to increase understanding of the physical processes that govern thermoelectric efficiency in Na-containing group 14 type II clathrates. This has been achieved through structural characterization and physical property measurements. Local and electronic structures of Si clathrates with the formula NaxSi136, where x = 0, 1.3, 5.5, 7.2, 8.8, 14.1, 20 and 21.5 were studied using x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Thermoelectric properties, namely Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity were measured from 2.5 K to 400 K. Low Na content samples, x < 8, showed reduced thermal conductivity compared to the empty clathrate, x = 0. For x > 8, increased Na content led to increased charge transfer, increased thermal conductivity and decreased magnitude of Seebeck voltages. The heat capacities of the NaxSi136 materials were measured from 2.5 K to 300 K. Analysis of the heat capacity data showed that the vibrational modes associated with Na in the Si28 cages are of sufficiently low energies to interact with heat transporting acoustic phonons, leading to reduced thermal conductivity as x is increased up to ~ 8. Increasing Na content beyond x = 8 introduces Na into the Si20 cages. This stiffens the lattice, increasing (or maintaining) phononic contributions to thermal conductivity, and increasing electronic contributions. Electronic thermal conductivity is responsible for upwards of 50 % of heat conduction when x = 21.5. Na containing type II Ge clathrates were produced using an ionic liquid reaction medium. Seebeck coefficients observed in Na9Ge136 materials, were negative but larger in magnitude than those of the NaxSi136 materials and thermal conductivities of Na9Ge136 were lower than those of the NaxSi136 materials. While both Si and Ge type II clathrates showed modest figures of merit, with maximum ZT values of 2.5 × 10-6 and 2.8 × 10-5 observed in Na20Si136 and Na¬9Ge136, of the two framework elements, type II Ge clathrates have been shown to have more favourable thermoelectric properties.

The objective of this work is to develop methods to investigate the thermoelectric (TE) transport in semiconducting nanowires (NWs). The thermal conductivity of degenerately doped electrochemically-etched (EE) silicon NWs was measured to be lower than silicon NWs synthesized by a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) method without showing a clear dependence on the NW diameter. The thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) at near room temperature obtained from the three measured TE properties on the same EE Si NW was found to be between 0.01 of a very rough NW and 0.08 of a relatively smooth NW, the latter of which is about four times higher than that reported for bulk p-type Si at the optimum doping concentration. In addition, the NW samples could be contaminated or oxidized during the device processing. Based on the TEM characterization, they have relatively thick oxide layer and small surface roughness, and are apparently different from the EE Si NWs that a Berkeley team reported. Typical rough NWs reported by the Berkeley team have thin oxide layer and are free of major structural defects. Hence, given the significant structural differences in the samples, it would be scientifically inappropriate to compare the transport properties obtained from the two studies. In addition, a five to ten fold reduction in thermal conductivity was observed in wurtzite InAs NWs compared to bulk InAs of zinc blend phase, and is mainly attributed to diffuse surface scattering of phonons. Moreover, InSb NWs have been synthesized at three different base pressures. The NWs were found to be zinc-blende structure with <110> growth direction. The ZT of the two NWs is about 10 times lower than the bulk values mainly because of the much higher doping levels in NWs than the bulk as well as mobility suppression in the NWs. The ZT of one NW grown at a high vacuum base pressure is higher than another NW grown at low vacuum. These results show that it is necessary to better control the impurity doping in order to increase the ZT of the InSb NWs. / text

This work presents the development and application of analytical, numerical, and experimental methods for the study of thermal and electrical transport in nanoscale systems, with special emphasis on those materials and phenomena which can be important in thermoelectric and semiconductor device applications. Analytical solutions to the Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) using the relaxation time approximation (RTA) are presented and used to study the thermal and electrical transport properties of indium antimonide (InSb), indium arsenide (InAs), bismuth telluride (Bi₂Te₃), and chromium disilicide (CrSi₂) nanowires. Experimental results for the thermal conductivity of single layer graphene supported by SiO₂ were analyzed using an RTA-based model and compared to a full quantum mechanical numerical BTE solution which does not rely on the RTA. The ability of these models to explain the measurement results as well as differences between the two approaches are discussed. Alternatively, numerical solutions to the BTE may be obtained statistically through Monte Carlo simulation for complex geometries which may prove intractable for analytical methods. Following this approach, phonon transport in silicon (Si) sawtooth nanowires was studied, revealing that thermal conductivity suppression below the diffuse surface limit is possible. The experimental investigation of energy transport in nanostructures typically involved the use of microfabricated devices or non-contact optical methods. In this work, two such approaches were analyzed to ascertain their thermal behavior and overall accuracy as well as areas for possible improvement. A Raman spectroscopy-based measurement design for investigating the thermal properties of suspended and supported graphene was examined analytically. The resulting analysis provided a means of determining from measurement results the thermal interface conductance, thermal contact resistance, and thermal conductivity of the suspended and supported graphene regions. Previously, microfabricated devices of several different designs have been used to experimentally measure the thermal transport characteristics of nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes, nanowires, and thin films. To ascertain the accuracy and limitations of various microdevice designs and their associated conduction analyses, finite element models were constructed using ANSYS and measurements of samples of known thermal conductance were simulated. It was found that designs with the sample suspended were generally more accurate than those for which the sample is supported on a bridge whose conductance is measured separately. The effects of radiation loss to the environment of certain device designs were also studied, demonstrating the need for radiation shielding to be at temperatures close to that of the device substrate in order to accurately calibrate the resistance thermometers. Using a suspended microdevice like those analyzed using finite element analysis, the thermal conductivities of individual bismuth (Bi) nanowires were measured. The results were correlated with the crystal structure and growth direction obtained by transmission electron microscopy on the same nanowires. Compared to bulk Bi in the same crystal direction, the thermal conductivity of a single-crystal Bi nanowires of 232 nm diameter was found to be 3 - 6 times smaller than bulk between 100 K and 300 K. For polycrystalline Bi nanowires of 74 nm to 255 nm diameter the thermal conductivity was reduced by a factor of 18 - 78 over the same temperature range. Comparable thermal conductivity values were measured for polycrystalline nanowires of varying diameters, suggesting a grain boundary scattering mean free path for all heat carriers in the range of 15 - 40 nm which is smaller than the nanowire diameters. An RTA-based transport model for both charge carriers and phonons was developed which explains the thermal conductivity suppression in the single-crystal nanowire by considering diffuse phonon-surface scattering, partially diffuse surface scattering of electrons and holes, and scattering of phonons and charge carriers by ionized impurities such as oxygen and carbon of a concentration on the order of 10¹⁹ cm⁻³. Using a similar experimental setup, the thermoelectric properties (Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity) of higher manganese silicide (HMS) nanostructures were investigated. Bulk HMS is a passable high temperature thermoelectric material which possesses a complex crystal structure that could lead to very interesting and useful nanoscale transport properties. The thermal conductivities of HMS nanowires and nanoribbons were found to be reduced by 50 - 60 % compared to bulk values in the same crystal direction for both nanoribbons and nanowires. The measured Seebeck coefficient data was comparable or below that of bulk, suggesting unintentional doping of the samples either during growth or sample preparation. Difficulty in determining the amorphous oxide layer thickness for nanoribbons samples necessitated using the total, oxide-included cross section in the thermal and electrical conductivity calculation. This in turn led to the determined electrical conductivity values representing the lower bound on the actual electrical conductivity of the HMS core. From this approach, the measured electrical conductivity values were comparable or slightly below the lower end of bulk electrical conductivity values. This oxide thickness issue affects the determination of the HMS nanostructure thermoelectric figure of merit ZT as well, though the lower bound values obtained here were found to still be comparable to or slightly smaller than the expected bulk values in the same crystal direction. Analytical modeling also indicates higher doping than in bulk. Overall, HMS nanostructures appear to have the potential to demonstrate measurable size-induced ZT enhancement, especially if optimal doping and control over the crystallographic growth direction can be achieved. However, experimental methods to achieve reliable electrical contact to quality four-probe samples needs to be improved in order to fully investigate the thermoelectric potential of HMS nanostructures. / text

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Diese Arbeit konzentriert sich auf die Charakterisierung der elektrischen und thermoelektrischen Eigenschaften zwischen T<50 K und Raumtemperatur mittels elektrischer Transportmessungen. Für ZnGa2O4 werden zusätzlich die thermischen Eigenschaften untersucht. Für die Herstellung von elektrischen Bauelementen in der Halbleiterindustrie sind dünne epitaktische Schichten von besonderem Interesse und werden daher hier für ß−Ga2O3 systematisch studiert. Dabei wird zwischen Schichtdicken von d = 25 bis 225 nm unterschieden und die Resultate mit Volumenkristallen verglichen. Für ZnGa2O4 werden erste Untersuchungen an Einkristallen durchgeführt. Für diese Arbeit wird eine neue Messplattform entwickelt, um die elektrischen und thermoelektrischen Eigenschaften charakterisieren zu können. Die Probenprozessierung wird mittels optischer Lithographie, Magnetron-Sputtern und Lift-Off umgesetzt. Für ß−Ga2O3 wird untersucht, welchen Einfluss das Wachstum und die Schichtdicke auf die elektrischen und thermoelektrischen Eigenschaften hat. Durch nicht perfektes Wachstum der Kristalle entstehen zweidimensionale Gitterfehler wodurch die Beweglichkeit ab und der Betrag des Seebeck-Koeffizienten zunimmt. Zusätzlich ist das Wachstum schichtdickenabhängig. Dünne Schichten weisen mehr null- und zweidimensionale Defekte auf, was zu einer Abnahme der Beweglichkeit führt. Durch das Studium der Streuprozesse im ß−Ga2O3 wird eine Aufteilung des Seebeck- Koeffizienten in den thermodiffusiven und Phonon-Drag-Anteil durchgeführt. Für dünne Schichten (d<100 nm) nimmt der Phonon-Drag-Parameter bei T<150 K mit abnehmender Schichtdicke um eine Größenordnung zu, was für eine Zunahme der Phonon-Phonon- zu Elektron-Phonon-Streuzeit spricht. Erste Messungen an ZnGa2O4-Volumenmaterial zeigen, dass es sich um einen entarteten Halbleiter handelt. Der Seebeck-Koeffizient zeigt ebenfalls den Phonon-Drag-Effekt mit einem Maximum bei 60 K. Die Wärmeleitfähigkeit bei Raumtemperatur ist lambda=(22.9 ± 0.2) W/mK. / This work focuses on the characterization of the electric and thermoelectric transport properties between T<50 K and room temperature using electrical transport measurements. Furthermore the thermal transport properties of ZnGa2O4 are investigated. For the manufacturing of electrical devices in the semiconductor industry thin epitaxial films are of interest, hence they are studied extensively here for ß-Ga2O3. The film thicknesses are varied between d = 25 and 225 nm and their properties are compared to those of bulk material. For ZnGa2O4 first investigations are carried out on bulk material. For this work, a novel measurement platform is developed to perform the electric and thermoelectric characterization. The processing of the samples includes photolithography, magnetron sputtering and lift-off. The influence of the growth and film thickness of ß−Ga2O3 on the electric and thermoelectric properties is studied. Due to non-perfect growth of the crystals twodimensional defects are formed, which decrease the mobility and increase the absolute value of the Seebeck-coefficient. Additionally the growth depends on the film thickness. Very thin films exhibit more zero- and twodimensional defects, which decrease the mobility. The knowledge of the scattering mechanisms in ß−Ga2O3 allow a splitting of the Seebeck coefficient into the thermodiffusive and Phonon-Drag-part. For thin films (d<100 nm) and T<150 K the Phonon-Drag-parameter increases by an order of magnitude, which is explained by an increase of phonon-phonon- to electron-phonon-scattering times. First measurements of ZnGa2O4-bulk material show, that it is a degenerate semiconductor. The Seebeck-coefficient shows the Phonon-Drag-effect as well, with a maximum at 60 K. The thermal conductivity at room temperature is lambda= (22.9 ± 0.2) W/mK.

The search for renewable energy resources and ways to harvest them has become a global mainstream topic among researchers nowadays, with solar cells and thermoelectric generators among the energy harvesting technologies currently being researched in vast. CZTS (Cu2ZnSnS4), a p-type semiconducting material initially researched to replace copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) as the light absorbing layer in thin film solar cells, was studied in this doctoral work for alternative uses in energy harvesting. This work aims to systemically investigate the prospects of CZTS to be used as hole transport layers and thermoelectric generators. CZTS thin film was successfully fabricated using a versatile approach involving hot-injection synthesis of CZTS nanoparticles ink followed by spin coating and thermal treatment. Results obtained revealed the possibility to fine control CZTS thin film fabrication based on ink concentration and spin. Besides that, thermal treatment temperature was found to affect the film’s overall properties, where an increase in thermal treatment temperature improved the degree of crystallinity and electrical properties. In addition, a phase change going from less stable cubic and wurtzite structures to a more stable tetragonal structure was also observed. Furthermore, CZTS was found to be a good candidate to replace the commonly used organic hole transport layer in perovskite solar cells, with potentials in improving performance and stability. In addition, CZTS also possessed good transport properties to be a potential p-type material in a thermoelectric generator, with the preliminary performance of fabricated CZTS/AZO thermoelectric generator showing a maximum power output of ~350 nW at ~170 KΔT. These findings provide new perspectives for CZTS in energy harvesting applications, despite the struggle in its development as the absorber layer in thin film solar cells. Besides providing a deeper understanding of CZTS and its vast possibilities in energy harvesting applications, promising future research stemming from this work is also limitless, reinventing ways in material studies, in search of alternative applications which may be of benefit.

[pt] Nesta tese foram estudados três sistemas nanoscópicos compostos de pontos quânticos (PQs). No primeiro deles foi analisada a denominada nuvem Kondo, ou a extensão da blindagem que os spins da banda de condução fazem do spin de uma impureza magnética embebida em uma matriz metálica e representada, no nosso caso, por um PQ. As propriedades da nuvem Kondo foram obtidas através da manifestação da ressonância Kondo na densidade de estados local nos sítios da matriz metálica e também através das correlações de spin entre o spin do elétron no PQ e os spins da banda de condução. Foi possível encontrar uma concordância entre as extensões da nuvem Kondo obtidas com ambos métodos. O segundo sistema estudado consiste em uma estrutura de três PQs alinhados e com o PQ central acoplado a dois contatos metálicos. Foi analisada a operação deste sistema como uma porta lógica quântica cujo funcionamento depende do estado de carga do PQ central. Foi feito um estudo dependente do tempo das propriedades do sistema e, em particular, da correlação dos spins dos PQs laterais. Mostramos que o efeito Kondo, refletido na condutância do sistema, pode ser uma ferramenta fundamental para conhecer o estado da porta quântica. Os primeiros dois sistemas foram tratados usando o método dos Bósons Escravos na aproximação de campo médio. Finalmente, foi estudado o transporte termoelétrico em um sistema de dois PQs quando um deles está acoplado a contatos metálicos unidimensionais. O sistema foi analisado no regime de resposta linear e não linear a um potencial externo no regime de bloqueio de Coulomb. Mostramos que a presença de ressonâncias Fano e de uma singularidade de Van-Hove na densidade de estados dos contatos unidimensionais perto do nível de Fermi são ingredientes fundamentais para o aumento da eficiência termoelétrica do dispositivo. O problema de muitos corpos foi resolvido na aproximação de Hubbard III que permite um estudo correto das propriedades de transporte deste sistema para T maior que TK, onde TK é a temperatura Kondo. / [en] In this thesis, were studied three nanoscopic quantum dot (QD) systems. First, the so-called Kondo cloud was analyzed, the extension of the conduction band spin screening of a magnetic impurity embedded in a metallic matrix and represented, in our case, by a QD. The Kondo cloud properties were obtained studying the way in which the local density of states of the metallic matrix sites reflects the Kondo resonance and also through the spin-spin correlations between the QD and the conduction band spins. It was possible to find a good agreement between the Kondo cloud extensions obtained using both methods. The second system consists of three aligned QDs with the central QD connected to two metallic leads. The operation of this system as a quantum gate was studied, which depends on the central QD charge. A time dependent study of the system properties and, in particular, of the lateral QDs spin correlation was developed. We showed that the Kondo effect, reflected in the conductance, could be a fundamental tool to measure the information contained in the quantum gate state. The first two systems were treated using the Slave Bosons Mean Field Approximation method. Finally, we studied the thermoelectric transport of a two QD system when one of them is connected to two onedimensional leads. The system was analyzed in the linear and nonlinear response to an external applied potential, always in the Coulomb blockade regime. It was found that the presence of Fano resonances and a Van-Hove singularity in the one-dimensional lead density of states near the Fermi level are fundamental ingredients to enhance thermoelectric efficiency. The many-body problem was treated in the Hubbard III approximation, which is a correct approach to study the transport properties for T greater than TK, where TK is the Kondo temperature.

Thermoelektrische Bauelemente ermöglichen die Erzeugung von Elektrizität aus überschüssiger Wärme, wie sie in großen Mengen in Geräten und Prozessen entsteht. Effiziente Thermoelektrika benötigen eine hohe thermoelektrische Gütezahl, die durch elektronische und thermische Transporteigenschaften der Materialien bestimmt wird. Die Dissertation untersucht zunächst die elektronischen Transporteigenschaften zweier hochaktueller thermoelektrischer Materialien, des Schichtsystems SnSe und einer komplexen Klathrat-Legierung. Deren theoretische Beschreibung benötigt unterschiedliche Methoden, die während dieses Dissertationsprojektes implementiert, erweitert oder entwickelt wurden. Die Temperaturabhängigkeit der Leitfähigkeit von SnSe wurde mittels der Boltzmann-Transportmethode in Relaxationszeitnäherung untersucht. Wir zeigen, dass nur bei gleichzeitiger Einbeziehung von thermischer Ausdehnung des Kristallgitters und Elektron-Phonon-Streuprozessen eine gute Übereinstimmung mit Experimenten erreicht wird. Die Eigenschaften des Typ-I-Klathrats Ba8AlxSi46-x sind sowohl von der Stöchiometrie als auch von der Al-Konfiguration, d.h. der Anordnung der Al-Atome im Wirtsgitter, abhängig. Für x=16 wurde der Grundzustand als hableitend bestimmt, während Konfigurationen mit höheren Energien metallisch sind. Wir erhalten eine zuverlässige Beschreibung der elektronischen, strukturellen und Transporteigenschaften von Ba8AlxSi46-x bei endlichen Temperaturen durch Mittlungen über Konfigurationen. Mittels einer neu entwickelten Methode zur Berechnung der temperaturabhängigen effektiven Bandstruktur von Legierungen beobachten wir ein temperaturbedingtes Schließen der Bandlücke bei x=16, was mit einem Phasenübergang von partieller Ordnung zu Unordnung bei 582K einher geht. Basierend auf Gedächtnisfunktions-Modellen präsentieren wir ferner eine neue Ab-initio-Methode zur Berechnung der elektrischen Leitfähigkeit von Festkörpern mit einem Unordungspotential beliebiger Kopplungsstärke. / Thermoelectric devices convert heat into electricity, thus enabling the reuse of waste heat produced by all kinds of engines. To make this conversion process profitable, materials with a high thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, are demanded. ZT depends on electronic and thermal transport properties. In this thesis, we study the electronic transport properties of two emerging thermoelectric materials, the layered material SnSe and a complex type-I clathrate alloy. Their reliable description requires different methodologies, that has been implemented, extended, or developed during this PhD project. For SnSe, the temperature dependence of the conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient is studied using the Boltzmann transport approach in the relaxation time approximation. We show that only by simultaneously accounting for thermal lattice expansion and electron-phonon coupling, a good agreement with experiment is reached. The properties of the type-I clathrate Ba8AlxSi46-x are determined, on the one hand, by its composition, and, on the other hand, by the configuration, i.e., the arrangement of the Al atoms in the host lattice. At the charge-compensated composition x=16, the ground-state configuration is found to be semiconducting, while configurations higher in energy are metallic. We obtain a realistic description of the electronic, structural, and transport properties of Ba8AlxSi46-x at finite temperature by using configurational thermodynamic averages. From a newly developed method to compute the finite-temperature effective band structure of alloys, we observe a temperature-driven closing of the band gap for x=16, which is concomitant with a partial order-disorder phase transition at 582K. We further present a novel ab initio memory-function approach for solids that enables the calculation of the electrical conductivity of solids in a disorder potential at arbitrary coupling strength. An application of the developed formalism is demonstrated with the example of sodium.